Modern Manners

 

8.5A          

Ruth:          Now, I must say, I hate people being late. I always try to arrive exactly on time, myself. I think it's very rude to be late. Don't you, Florence?

Florence:    MmmmÉ My friends are quite often late. Personally, I think you should arrive within an hour of the time that you were invited. But some of my friends are much later than that. But I think the most important thing is to stay in touch and let the person know if you're going to be late. Just send a text orÉ whatever. Then it's not such a problem, hopefully.

Ruth:          Well, I must say, it's a problem for me.

Florence:    MmmmÉ Hm. I'll bear that in mind when I'm meeting you next time, Gran. I'll make sure I'm not late. I don't want to get into trouble.

 

8.5B          

Florence:    MmmÉ When we meet, we generally hug each other. I meanÉ it depends. If it's one of my close female friends then we kiss each other but if it's someone you don't know so well, but someone who's stillÉ you know, a friendÉ you hug each other.

Ruth:          Boys too?

Florence:    Sure. Why not?

Ruth:          When I was young, people would just say 'hello' or shake hands if they hadn't seen each other for a long time. But now there's a lot more kissing, it seems to me. Most people kiss each other on the cheek. Once, usually, though some people kiss on both cheeks andÉ It's all a bit confusing, really. Of course of my age never kiss each other. If anything, they shake hands. They would definitely never hug or kiss each other. Oh, I can't imagine your Grandpa kissing his friends!

 

8.5C          

Florence:    AhhÉ I think on the first date, the guy pays, generally speaking. But I think the woman should definitely offer to pay. After that, it kind of depends who's got the most money, don't you think? I mean if you're both poor students, you probably share the bill. But if one person's got a job and the other one hasn't, then I think the person with money should pay, or at least they should pay more often.

Ruth:          MmmmÉ In my day, the man always paid. People expected it. The man would be embarrassed if he didn't pay in a restaurant. But then of course, it's a very long time since I've been on a date, so what do I know?

 

8.5D          

Ruth:          Now, this is something I must say I feel very strongly about. To me, it's the height of rudeness to have a conversation on your mobile phone while you're out with other people. It's just bad manners! You should give all your attention to the people you are with. I think you should definitely switch your mobile phone off. But of course, I'm probably old-fashioned.

Florence:    Personally, if I'm with other people in a restaurant or something, I always switch my phone to vibrate. Otherwise you have phones ringing all night and it's really annoying. But, yeah, I answer my calls and answer my text messages, well, you know, discretely.

Ruth:          Do you? Oh.

Florence:    I mean, I do agree with you in a way. I've got one or two friends who just text all evening long and we all tease them about how boring they are. But I don't think anyone's seriously offended, really. It's just the way it is these days, Gran.

Ruth:          Mmmm.

 

8.5E          

Ruth:          Well, of course, I was always taught that you should a hand-written note and you should send it the very next day. But I suppose that's all very old-fashioned now.

Florence:    Hm Hm Hmmm Not many people of my age send hand-written notes, I must say. But I would always post something on someone's Facebook wall. You know, 'Thanks a lot for last night'. We do still have manners, you know.

Ruth:          Of course. It's just all so different these days.